BJ Medical College Pune 1st year MBBS student missing for 13 days, parents allege ragging

Pune: A first-year MBBS student of BJ Medical College in Pune has been missing for the last 13 days, with his parents alleging that he was being harassed and ragged by his classmates before he disappeared.

However, the medical college has denied these allegations.

The student, who belongs to Kolhapur, has been missing since July 18. He reportedly left the campus at around 11:53 am that day and told his friends that he was going to meet another friend in Kharadi. Later, he informed that friend that he planned to visit an uncle in Hadapsar. Since then, his whereabouts remain unknown.

On July 20, the student's father registered a First Information Report (FIR) at Kharadi Police Station, following which the police began searching for him.

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BJ Medical College Dean Dr Eknath Pawar said that the student's father submitted a written complaint alleging that some of his son's classmates had been harassing and speaking badly about him. Later, the family filed another complaint claiming that the student had also been subjected to ragging.

After receiving the complaints, the college formed a four-member committee of senior professors to investigate the matter. The Anti-Ragging Committee carried out a separate inquiry into the ragging allegations.

"On July 27, the father gave us a formal application alleging that some of his son’s batchmates had been harassing and bad-mouthing the boy. We formed a four-member committee of senior professors and probed the matter. Later, we received another application from the father alleging that the student’s classmates had been ragging him. The anti-ragging committee investigated and concluded that none of the batchmates had harassed the boy. We questioned the students living in the hostel against whom the parents had complained. We spoke to others as well. No one recalls any ragging incident. However, since the boy has been missing for many days now, we have requested Bund Garden police officers and also the police commissioner to expedite the search," the dean told TOI.

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